Historic England has listed the Brighton and Hove synagogue, built in the 1960s and noted for its stunning array of Holocaust memorial stained glass windows, as a Grade II historic building. Announced April 2, the listing cites both the historic and architectural significance of the synagogue and is expected to save it from the threat of demolition.
The synagogue was built in 1967-68 and designed by the architects Derek Sharp Associates. The sanctuary is noted for its expansive stained glass windows on the east wall flanking the Ark, whose stained glass doors are part of the ensemble. Designed by artist John Petts, the windows depict religious iconography and well as images, including flames and barbed wire, that evoke the Holocaust. The Imperial War Museum has designated the complex a Holocaust memorial.
As we noted in 2023, preservationists including the 20th Century (C20) Society had campaigned for the synagogue to be listed, particularly after its dwindling congregation had voted to allow it to be torn down to make way for a housing development project that would include a small prayer room elsewhere on the site.
“C20 Society first applied to list the synagogue in 2017 in response to prior approval being granted for its demolition, yet Historic England disappointingly recommended against listing in 2018,” C20 said in an article on its web site welcoming the listing.
This previously consented scheme subsequently fell-through and important new evidence emerged regarding the rarity and significance of the stained-glass windows. This prompted a new listing application by the Society in August 2023, and inclusion on the recent C20 Risk List campaign of the 10 most threatened buildings across the country, trailed by a nationwide ‘List it or Lose it’ billboard campaign featuring the synagogue.
Historic England listed the synagogue as Grade II for the following reasons, according to the official entry on its web site:
Historic interest:
* the stained glass is an early and unusual example of a Holocaust memorial in Britain; the dedication of the synagogue building itself to the memory of Jewish victims of the Holocaust underlines the historic interest;
* the work of the artist John Petts is well-regarded in both stained glass and wood-engraving; the glass at the Brighton and Hove Synagogue is probably the best-known example of his stained glass in Britain.
Architectural interest:
* the synagogue has a bold form with a distinctive roof profile and pierced brick screens, its architectural interest elevated by John Petts’s stained glass which forms a significant feature externally as well as internally;
* the prayer hall is dominated by the three stained-glass windows spanning the east wall, and the central Ark doors, architectural integration being achieved through the placement of the triple vaults above, and the timber panels which frame the glass;
* the windows and Ark doors, conceived as a Holocaust memorial, combine artistic ingenuity and flair with an allusive iconographic programme representing the history of the persecution of Jewish people, including subtle references to the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps.
“The Brighton and Hove Synagogue has outstanding cultural significance: its post-war architecture and artwork is exceptional, and it has major communal value as a Holocaust memorial and as a social and spiritual centre,” Catherine Croft, Director at the C20 Society said. “With the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz being commemorated in 2025, the destruction of this luminescent memorial would have been unthinkable. It richly deserves its place on the National Register.”
Read a detailed description of the building on the C20 Society web site
Read our post from August 2023 about the campaign to save the building